NOTE

KI-Media loves to hear from you, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Please leave out personal attacks, do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. We thank you for your cooperation!

Cambodia is gearing up for more mass rallies, with up to 50,000 people slated to attend a three-day opposition demonstration beginning Wednesday.

MPs-elect for the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) are boycotting the National Assembly in protest at alleged irregularities they claim cost them victory in recent general elections. CNRP leader Sam Rainsy has demanded international intervention and also threatened a general strike. The turmoil has already claimed one life, and fears are growing of further bloodshed.

The Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) of strongman Prime Minster Hun Sen, who has held power for 33 years, won 68 out of 123 legislative seats at the ballot box on July 28. However, the opposition claims they were defrauded out of eight seats that would have swung the balance of power. “It is frustrating [not being in parliament], but we are all united behind the boycott,” says Keo Phirum, a CNRP MP-elect for Kratie province.

Virak Ou. Phnom Penh Post File photo

Not everyone agrees that the CNRP won the most votes. Ou Virak, president of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, says that opposition politicians “should just admit that they didn’t get enough votes” and instead “emphasize there were significant irregularities.” Allegations of vote buying, intimidation and “ghost voters” swooping in to sway borderline constituencies have also not stopped international governments from tentatively recognizing Hun Sen’s victory.

Nonetheless, discontent over land rights, deforestation, extractive industries and rampant corruption is running high, and a groundswell of opposition is developing as people sense that change may finally be possible. “It is remarkable, the absence of CPP supporters in public, on TV or radio,” says prominent political analyst Lao Mong Hay.

Even when CPP supporters are encountered, they may not be what they appear to be. TIME spoke to a group of Phnom Penh residents who said they festooned their homes with progovernment banners purely for the benefit for visiting officials, and that they really supported the opposition.

Buoyed by this unprecedented public movement, Sam Rainsy has entered negotiations with Hun Sen and reportedly demanded that his party receive the key post of National Assembly president plus six of the 12 committee-chairmen positions in exchange for taking their seats. Hun Sen has laughed off the demands (“Have you ever seen, anywhere in the world, a minority party holding the position of the president of parliament?” he asked reporters) but is clearly perturbed and has erected barricades around his official residence.

In the meantime, a game of brinkmanship continues. “There could be trouble during this week’s protests as our feedback from supporters is that we have been too soft so far,” one CNRP insider tells TIME. “If we compromise now, [our supporters] are never going to vote for us again.”

Some say that the CNRP is being pushed to take on Hun Sen by hard-line members of the Cambodian diaspora, who are among the party’s chief financial backers. The fear is that Hun Sen will respond by ordering a bloody crackdown, exacerbating the crisis further. “The government is so prone to making [those kind of] mistakes,” says Ou Virak, who calls the CNRP position “irresponsible” and urges compromise.

In this climate, many see the need for a broker to engineer a settlement acceptable to both sides. However, the most obvious candidate, King Norodom Sihamoni, has distanced himself from the crisis and also refused a CNRP request to delay the National Assembly opening while electoral irregularities were investigated. “Compared with his father, [King Sihamoni] is so weak in so many ways,” said Lao Mong Hay. (Cambodia’s revered King Norodom Sihanouk postponed parliament in 2003 amid a comparable deadlock.)

The CNRP plans to march Wednesday with a petition to the U.N. and at least seven foreign embassies calling for international intervention. However, the city authorities have only granted permission to hold a stationary demonstration of no more than 10,000 people at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park, citing traffic concerns and the inability to guarantee the safety of a larger crowd.

Judging by the 20,000 people who turned up to similar protests last month, there is little chance of these conditions being followed. Troops remain a fixture on the streets of the capital, and with two bitter adversaries unwilling to compromise, a country holds its breath.

52 comments:

Anonymous
said...

What makes Mr. Ou so certain that the CNRP did not get enough votes? To be certain, an independent body is necessary to verify Mr. Ou's suggestion, otherwise Mr. Ou has no way of knowing the unknown. I am not for CNRP nor for CPP, but I am for justice and fairness for the poor Cambodians. And, the past election was far from fair. Mr. Ou is the head of a prominent human rights NGO, but why he appears to be sympathizing with the ruling party, not the Cambodian people when their rights have been violated for so long. May be it is time for Mr Ou to go too, what do you think?

Since I left Cambodia 1979 I've never owned a television set but only a radio every time I go even far away farm with my buffalo cannot live without it which aired Sesame Street but different from today Sesame Street in the third world. Sesame Street starring Piggy, The Frog, Elmo, Bert and etc. can't remembered them all and too old for it. These puppets is very popular today and among the best show throughout Cambodia which I don't even pay any attention at all.

I QUESTION STRONGLY WHEN MR. OU VIRAKSAID THAT GOVERNMENT DOES'T NEED TO BE LEGITIMATED WITH 120 DEPUTIES' THIS WAS A SIGN THAT HE WAS ALREADY SOLD. IMAGINE, HE HAS MASTER DEGREE IN ECONOMICS SCIENCES. HE IS REALLY OUT OF THE REALITY. HE IS PUTTING HIMSELF VERY CHEAP.

Wow I think all people who scold cnrp is trialor. Not chat . Oh my god one man die at kbal tnol brigt cnrp not admited quickly so I think cnrp not responsible like him said. But vote is wrong coz cnrp lost one million voter that was cheat by cop

Tell the truth Mr Ou Virak! Which party was "irresponsible"? According to you,you said CNRP was irresponsible,to me Cpp was/is more irresponsibled stolen votes,intimidating,threatening people for their party-gains to serve Hanoi their boss.Mr Ou Virak,are you out of your mind or have been baught out by a thief Hun sen to be his dog? Please bloodshed is going to happen because ah kwak sen-yuon's dog refuses to share power or not willing to compromises.If we get to that stage,ah kwak and his families loses,so does his cronies (Cpp) all hell will breaks looses! Perhaps Lybians'spring will teach ah kwak a lesson or at least open his blinded eye to see that people does have power to subdue his toy-army thugs and destroy ah kwak for good!...Please use Ms Theary exit tragedy to save your families before all hell breaks looses,its still time to do so...Good luck ah kwak!..

It is so easy to buy a certain Khmer who is willing to betray his country and to turn a blind eye to the basic justice. In this case Ou Virak had made a statement that is totally his opinion in favor of CPP. It would have been OK if he was simply a member of the public but he works for Human Right! The question is does Human Right as a prominent NGO whose tasked to protect the public endorse Ou Virak statement?! It is time to pressure Human Right by massive public outcry to fire Ou Virak or at least to explain his statement and make sense of it all.

i don't like the cnrp, not for what they stand for, but for what they always accuse others for this or that when people don't agree with them. i think cnrp people are a bit unprofessional and unethical with their accusations and expressions. they want to win all and can't understand why they can't win all. they don't know how to settle issue and find solution. they are like jungle people who use the jungle law to express themselves. i think everything they accuse others is all hypocritical because they have that traits themselves. they don't trust anyone in cambodia, how can they get along with anyone there? and their leaders don't act like leaders, they are really a bunch of unruly people, reminded me of the unruly yellow shirts, i mean shit, in thailand who wrangle on about cambodia's preah vihear. cnrp people are very unethical people, watch out! it is dangerous when one uses their madness and anger to get what they want; they don't listen to anyone and even disobey the rule of law because they don't agree with the rule of law. shame on them all!

hey, cambodia is not that stupid. people can see that plain and clear! cnrp tries hard to camoflage their hypocricy, but cambodia can still see their dirty work, so watch out! don't put all your eggs in one basket with the cnrp. at least with the cpp, they are flexible and reformed, the cnrp are not made for flexibility and reformation, they are mad and angry people which can't see right from wrong. that said, the cnrp can use the mental health providers' intervention. their mental health providers is the UN and their biased friends, whoever they are! without the use of the rule of law, people like the cnrp uses their own personal agony and bigotry to get what they want, not good in the professional ethnical world out there. i mean, the democracy countries out there want to support democracy growth in cambodia, but what they have to be careful with is supporting the mental illness people who run the cnrp, so be careful who you put in power without proper training and education, passing competent testing, etc. cambodia has been through the miserable past already, khmer people of cambodia don't need to go through that again despite some people's madness, bias, bigotry, ignorance and agony with not getting what they want. cambodia shouldn't be about them, there are more to cambodia than just some angry cnrp incompetent people out there. the rule of law don't care about the person and their personal feelings, the rule of law in cambodia only cares about right from wrong. think about it! good luck with your future endeavors!

what i'm curious about is: do the constituents in cambodia really understand and know what and who they are supporting and voting into office? perhaps, they ought be interviewed the people about their knowledge of who they are supporting. ask them if they understand about their representatives. i bet most of them will tell you they'd been duress or forced to do something against their will and that they just go with the flow and really have no idea why they vote for any of them. for change, for new leadership, for what? some of them are all hypocrites, if not all! in cambodia, what people want and need is experienced, competent and modernized leaders, not the other way around.

mr. ou virak may be right on his evaluation and analysis and the proud cnrp hate to admit it! i prefer people who think for themself than just follow the flow. yes, in the real world, it is better to be analytic and ethnical and professional, otherwise, nobody in the world will take you seriously. some people think they can just run and hide in cambodia when they are incompetent and do wrong, i say not true anymore!

Khmer people are killed everyday by CPP's Hun Sen as they cannot afford the corruptive health care managed by hun SEn clan, they are killed by flood caused by deforestation, they are killed by being poor, the condition created by Hun Sen. Even killed by hun sen's bullet , the killing is still unseen.

i think in cambodia or asia in general, to survive, one has to "when in rome, do what the romans do." yes, it's called survival! to survive, human beings have to be flexible and using common sense as well.

July this year, Mr. OU Virak had an interview with ABC Australia regarding western countries are disappointed with the show has run by the RGC under HunSen. The interview included briefly about money laundering in Australia by Hun SEN's son HUN TO .Mr. OU should have been aware of the criminal acts of the HUN nationally and internationally.

So sad, when the intellectual property can be SOLD under name of DOLLARS or INTIMIDATION. And May be there is lack of trust of own conscience.

And that we are proud of the CNRP movement , aimed to eradicate the athmosphere of CORRUPTION for the survival of CAMBOIA.

IT IS STUPID FOR OU VIRAK TO MAKE COMMENT LIKE THAT. HE KNOW BETTER THAT TO FIND OUT THE TRUTH BEHIND THE FACT IS TO COUNT ALL VOTE OPENLY TO VERIFY THE VOTE. WHY STUPID OU VIRAK ASK MP SAMRAINSY TO BINDLY ADMIT TO SOMETHING THAT IS UN-TRUE. DOES HE EARN HIS DEGREE FROM HUN XEN UNIVERSITY? OR MAY BE HANOI UNIVERSITY THAT SPECIALIZE IN TWISTING THE FACT?

yes, in cambodia, having gone through so much pain and suffering, survival is the top priority, believe it or not. if people don't understand that already, they are not educated to think for themselves! of course, that mentality can change, but it takes a confident vote to do that.

5:53am, in the real world out there, it's the people who come out the most in public eyes that's more influential compare to those you only know the book, but never set out to be conspicuous. the majority of the people in the world react by sight more than by principle. know the difference. it takes a certain characteristic to be that way. not everybody is the same, it depends on what you want in life: fame or influence or wealth or health or reputation or skills, etc.

The Human Rights NGO that Ou Virak is working for is not stand for as a prominent Human Rights NGO in Cambodia. CCHR was created by Hun Sen to support his CPP only. Do not pay much attention on his statement...

He is definitely used by Hun Sen, he just come up to mix and stir the Human Rights issues in Cambodia only.

Please note this is Mr. OU Virak view only. It DOES NOT represent the general electorate.Accepted CPP without any reform to the broken system of NEC vote rigging, cheating and stealing of people votes as a result of corruptions is no mean acceptable.

All CPP & NEC need to do is accept the people demand to investigate or recount all of the contention vote that is consider irregular. That is all they wanted, how hard is it to recount the original voting paper.If CPP think they won this election then what exactly are they fear off?The more CPP delayed the counting the more we think they have CHEATED.Now we know NEC & CPP intervence the election processes and counting so as to give CPP an advantage in "CLOSED" door approach.I think is Hun Sen is such as STRONG MAN than why not take on CNRP challenges and recount ALL THE ORGINAL VOTE ONCE more. So we Cambodian know who is the REAL WINNERS, i don't WANT A CHEAT TO BE THE WINNER AND TO LEAD MY COUNTRY.

For example you study hard to prepare for an exam, and we have another person who has money and power pay for and cheat and beat the person who did the right thing, and the cheated person off cause come first in the class, but in fact he/she know nothing...is that fair? This election is the same...

Eh dude is it part of a money buy you off, or family related, or High positioning offered near future by the CPP's regime, or maybe you're playing game and seriously gaming such a youn yiek cong breeding with ordinary citizens in somewhere in order to fulfill your big bossy Han Noi or what? However, as if you would such as like that, thus, you could make and recreate your new personal history in a real betrayal to all Khmer citizens who lived either inside and outside for fact, especially to your mama and papa, too. Could you stop deviating from the fact or the basis principle of your current job right now as an "NGO?"Couldn’t you? Well if not that's you choice. And yet, you seemed more likely to commit yourself with the CPP so far, maybe. For sure you've known how the justice is injustice was controlling under CPP whose it was subversive with youn and plus the whole crooks was never and ever has been found or brought to justice but only the scapegoats and fabrication cases all alone were present to the public eyes and then imprisoned, etc.? Well if you're not involved of which I mentioned above, that you are Atta boy. Believe you would have known much better than some of Khmer citizens since you'd been served and observed in the country for the past 15 years or more already.

"Ou Virak, president of the Cambodia Center for Human Rights, says that opposition politicians “should just admit that they didn’t get enough votes” and instead “emphasize there were significant irregularities.”

Ou Virak was ridiculously out of his mind when he made such a nonsense statement. It is irresponsible on his part to suggest that the opposition should just accept, without any protest, the result which everyone agrees to be false. He should elaborate on how he comes to such a conclusion that the opposition did not get enough votes. Is the call to create an independent committee not intended to answer the alleged election irregularities?

Perhaps his organization should not investigate any complaints of human rights violation in Cambodia because the victims simply do not have enough torture inflicted upon them to be considered victims and they simply just accept that fact!

Shame on Ou Virak for having uttered words out of his slippery mouth without due consideration and respect for justice!

Is there any motive behind such an irresponsible statement we do not know about or Ou Virak is just simply foolish?

How can people learn to defend their rights without making those who wrong them responsible for their action? Why should Cambodians accept a fait accompli when we know that the CPP did not win the election?

Simply allow the independent investigation into the alleged fraud and everyone has their answer about who won and who lost this election?

Is that difficult to comprehend? Yes, if your party stole votes in the recent election.

My Closed friend who is working with the top job as a Senior adviser CPP member told me that HUN SEN has tried to buy Our Virak long time ago, and other people who are working as Independent or NGO in Cambodia, and OUR VIRAK has married to Chea Sim's niece, that is why HUN XEN tried to collect money and prepare to buy young Cambodian NGOx or Dr, such as Dr Chim Phal Varun, Sor Sopheap, Cheang Von, Phy Siphan ect and many of those they are so cheap just half a million dollars can buy 2 of them and asked them to say whatever HUN XEn wanted,

this is part of Vietcong tricks, trying to pain Cambodian face in different coulors and asking them to hit each other then they will get the advantage this is their experience in the past how to get Cambodian land.

ou virak can say what he wants but the public has spoken... You are fired. You had sold your credential. Wecannever take your at face value no more... We are for the suffering people out there, you have chosen the ProVietnam govt. who have sold and destroyed Cambodia years and years. Good now we know you and I hope you can sleep at night...

perhaps, too, cambodia needs to modernize its election system so those who like to cheat will have hard time doing it. how about installing lots of eyewitness cameras at all voting station and vote counting offices like they have at banks all across the world. casino have lots of cameras, so why can't they do the same at voting station and vote counting offices, etc... yes, prevention is easy to do than we think! i say install state of the art cameras all over the polling station! initially, it can cost a lot to do that, but in the long run, it'll pay off and will benefit khmer people in general and encourages good governance as well. with eyewitness cameras, if something is suspicious, roll up the camera and rerun to see who is at charge and committing fraud, crime, etc! i think having camera running will save a lot of time and financial resources. always look for solution and answers!

HUN XEN is not smart, whatever he is doing now, he listen from his Vietcong master. At first he let some on try to swear, yell and criticize him until most Cambodian trust them or the world community trust them, then that guy will turning back to say bad thing to Sam Rain Sy. HUN XEn always watch Chinese Sam Kok movie, how to kill and defeat the partner and also Vietcong always push HUN XEN to do many tricks how to defeat the opposition member.

Every national election, HUN XEn spent money to set up too many Candidates parties making Cambodian people could not understand how to vote for ? I do not trust HUN XEN will negotiate or deal with any one with the good heart way, he always declare to use " Win Win Policy "

Before talk about Buddhist law!Before talk about Cambodian constitution!Before talk about racism against the Vietnamese!

First talk about election law and the fact still remain! Hun Sen (CPP) and his cronies broke the election law by tampering with election boxes! This is criminal act which demand prosecution under the law!

As for Ou Virak he just a jackass! If he want to compromise and cooperate with the criminals and who is stopping him? He doesn't need to push CNRP to work with the criminals!

Cambodian people demand justice and who will deliver justice for Cambodian people? Not Ou Virak! Ou Virak is a criminal for cooperating with the criminals!

Rainsy supporter wanted freedom, but when this guy exercise his right to speak his mind, they jump all over him. Some Khmer never change their bad mentality. Before they blame someone else for the proplem these people should look at them self in the mirror first.